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Saginaw City Council approves even-year elections as money-saving move

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Voters cast their ballots at Saginaw Township's Hemmeter Elementary School on Election Day in November 2012. Saginaw City Council elections were switched to even, instead of odd-numbered, years by a decision of Saginaw City Council on Oct. 23, 2013.
(Colleen Harrison | MLive.com)

Councilman Dan Fitzpatrick, who voted against the change, said "it feels strange" to vote to give himself another year on the city's governing body. Fitzpatrick said he thought voting for the year change, which would extend his term an extra year, was a breach of the public trust since they elected him to a four-year term.

"It just feels like something that the voters decide and not the nine of us," He said. "It just doesn't feel right."

Mayor Greg Branch asked if council members could legally vote on the matter, since extending their term could be seen as something in their pecuniary interest.

City attorney Andre Borrello said he thought City Council was within their rights to vote on the issue, since they were only changing the election year. Borrello pointed out that the language in state law dictates that, if cities change the election year, elected officials' terms would be extended one year to accommodate the change.

Councilman Floyd Kloc made the opposite argument as Fitzpatrick, saying the value of opening up City Council elections to a wider electorate outweighs any concerns about extending current council terms.

"I think we are enhancing public trust by enlarging the voice that is usually heard on an off year," Kloc said.

Santos said that, as dictated by state law, the terms of each of the nine council members sitting after this year's election in November will need to be extended one year.

That means sitting Council members Annie Boesnch, Norman Braddock, Dan Fitzpatrick, Amos O'Neal and Floyd Kloc — whose terms were set to expire in November 2015 — will remain seated until November 2016.

The four new City Council members yet to be elected by voters this November would be seated for five years, until November 2018, instead of the typical four-year terms.

The election has produced the largest field of candidates on record for a four-seat City Council election.